Systems and methods for facilitating internet shopping

Abstract

As part of the general search functionality in the context of a comparison shopping site, a skip by popularity functionality evaluates each keyword submitted to a search engine. The skip by popularity functionality then determines whether the keyword or keywords submitted are highly relevant to a specific attribute or category. When a relevance threshold with respect to a specific attribute or category is met, certain criteria may be applied to test whether the user can be skipped over intermediate navigational steps and immediately delivered to the highly relevant category or attribute or even to a comparison shopping page for a specific product. Skip by popularity functionality may be used to determine and select the single most popular product associated with the keyword as determined either by users, or according to some other suitable determination scheme.

1 . A system comprising:
 a memory storing information about products from merchants, wherein the information comprises word descriptors about products, categories associated with a search term, and information about which categories are selected most often by users for a search term;   a processor operable to:
 receive a search term from a user device; 
 determine a plurality of attributes associated with the search term; 
 determine whether a subset of the plurality of attributes meets a threshold for selection by other users; and 
 present at least one attribute from the subset of attributes to a user on the user device and skipping at least one of the plurality of attributes for presenting to the user. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the attributes are categories. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the threshold is an indication of popularity. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor further submits the search term only within at least one attribute of the subset of attributes. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the threshold is based on frequency of submission of the search term. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the threshold is based on a percentage of users selecting a certain attribute over other attributes for the search term. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one attribute is a product model. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein results are returned for only the attribute having at least 20% more user selections than a second most popular one of the attributes. 
     
     
         9 . A method for performing a search request, comprising:
 receiving, electronically by a processor, a search term from a user device;   determining, by the processor, a plurality of attributes associated with the search term;   determining, by the processor, whether a subset of the plurality of attributes meets a threshold for selection by other users; and   presenting, by the processor, at least one attribute from the subset of attributes to a user on the user device and skipping at least one of the plurality of attributes for presenting to the user.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the attributes are categories. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the threshold is an indication of popularity. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising submitting the search term only within at least one attribute of the subset of attributes. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the threshold is based on frequency of submission of the search term. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by one or more processors of a server are adapted to cause the server to perform a method comprising:
 receiving a search term from a user device;   determining a plurality of attributes associated with the search term;   determining whether a subset of the plurality of attributes meets a threshold for selection by other users; and   presenting at least one attribute from the subset of attributes to a user on the user device and skipping at least one of the plurality of attributes for presenting to the user.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the attributes are categories. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the threshold is an indication of popularity. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises submitting the search term only within at least one attribute of the subset of attributes. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the threshold is based on frequency of submission of the search term. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the threshold is based on a percentage of users selecting a certain attribute over other attributes for the search term. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one attribute is a product model. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein results are returned for only the attribute having at least 20% more user selections than a second most popular one of the attributes.